Week 40 - Weekly Wrap

Adrian Meronk with the Dunhill Links Trophy

DP World Tour

Tournament: Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

Dates: 1-4 October

Course: St Andrews, Carnoustie, Kingsbarns Golf Links

Purse: €USD $5.0M

Ozzies in the field: Jason Scrivener, David Micheluzzie, Ryan Peake, Anthony Quayle, Jack Buchanan, Dan Hillier (NZ), Cam John, Elvis Smylie, James Marchesani, Will Florimo, Jay Mackenzie, Marc Leishman, Austin Bautista, Jack Thompson, Matias Sanchez, Nick Voke, Declan O’Donovan, Wade Ormsby, Kevin Yuan, Cam Smith, Lucas Herbert.

If you have nowhere to play next season then winning on the DP World Tour solves a lot of problems. Enter Adrian Meronk, LIV Golf player with no status anywhere. Whilst Meronk won the Australian Open in 2022 the benefits flowing from that victory have long expired and he faced a 2027 in the wilderness. Ultimately, the man from Poland won by 2 shots from Niklas Norgaard and Casey Jarvis.

Best of the Australasians was Kiwi Dan Hillier in a tie for thirtieth. Next best was another Kiwi Nick Voke at T51 followed by Declan O’Donovan at T55th. The only other Ozzie to make the weekend was Cam John who finished T61st.

1st Adrian Meronk - €725,520

T30 Dan Hillier (NZ) - €35,422

T51 Nick Voke (NZ) - €16,217

T55 Declan O’Donovan - €13,433

T61 Cam Jon - €11,096

LPGA

Tournament: Lotte Championship presented by Hoakalei

Dates: 1-4 October

Course: Hoakalei Country Club, Ewa Beach, Oahu, HI

Purse: USD $3.0M

Ozzies in the field: Hannah Green, Grace Kim, Steph Kyriacou, Cassie Porter, Robyn Choi, Gabbi Ruffels, Lydia Ko (NZ)

Jeeno Thitikul

If you only look at the result it might seem Jeeno Thitikul cruised to a three shot victory but the real picture saw the Thai star make a double bogey on 16 to lose her lead before making birdies on the final two holes to secure the victory. Her path to the win was made a little easier by second placed Ina Yoon bogeying the 17th.

This is Thitikul’s fourth win of the season, matching Nelly Korda. Thitikul’s 11th LPGA victory saw her eclipse the $20M mark in prizemoney and climbing to 4th on the all time money list knocking off Ozzie Karrie Webb. Whilst she may have surpassed Webb in strictly dollar terms, she has a long way to go to catch Webb on the wins table where Webb has 41 LPGA victories including seven Majors.

Best of the Ozzies was Grace Kim with a nice return to form and a T7 finish. Cassie Porter also playing well for a top 20 finish and solidifying her position in the rankings at 46th. Robyn Choi dropped a spot to 70th which is the cutoff position to play in the season ending CME Group Tour Championship.

1st Jeeno Thitikul – USD $450,000

T7 Grace Kim - $76,284

T18 Cassie Porter - $36,292

T28 Robyn Choi - $22,543

T69 Gabbi Ruffels - $6,108

MC Lydia Ko (NZ), Steph Kyriacou, Hannah Green

EPSON TOUR

Tournament: Epson Tour Championship at Indian Wells

Dates: 1-4 October

Course: Indian Wells Golf Resort

Purse: USD $300,000

Ozzies in the field: Jennifer Elliot, Caitlin Peirce, Fiona Xu (NZ)

Reagan Zibliski

An amazing week for the winner Reagan Zibliski who shot a final round 62 to take the win and catapult herself to 10th position in the Race for the Card rankings securing the final spot in the coveted 1-10 positions that earn category 9 status as opposed to those in 11-15 who are in category 16 and behind Q School cards.

Whilst there were no victory laps for our Ozzies at the season ending tournament both Jennifer Elliott and Caitlin Pierce should be satisfied with solid season on the Epson Tour this year. Elliott finished the tournament in T14 and 21st in the rankings and Pierce finished T27 on Sunday and 31st in the rankings. Both players are exempt into final stage of LPGA Q Series so they will have another chance to snare a seat at the big table for next season. Kiwi Fiona Xu finished this tournament 70th and unfortunately slipped from 35th to 40th in the rankings which means she misses the direct entry to final stage of Q series and will have to play Qualifying Stage in November.

1st Reagan Zibilski – USD $100,000

T14 Jennifer Elliott - $3,618

T21 Caitlin Peirce - $2,016

70 Fiona Xu - $1,000

PGA Tour

Tournament: Bank of Utah Championship

Dates:1-4 October

Course: Black Desert Resort, Ivins, UT

Purse: USD $6.0M

Ozzies in the field: Cam Davis

Austin Smotherman

Unless you’re in the tournament, know someone in the tournament, perhaps live in the tournament host city or a real PGA Tour nerd it is very hard to get excited about the fall events. For the record Austin Smotherman picked up his first PGA Tour Victory beating Doug Ghim by three shots. The win gives Smotherman a two year exemption which includes entry into the Championship Series which begins in 2028. He is also likely to get entry into the signature events in 2027. He needs to remain in the top 60 of the FedexCup standings to achieve that and he climbed to no 51 following his win.

Cam Davis’s season did not get any better with another missed cut.

Things will heat up a bit next week when the tour moves to Japan and some big names, including Min Woo Lee and Adam Scott, play the Baycurrent Classic.

1st Austin Smotherman – USD $1,080,000

Mc Cam Davis

Korn Ferry Tour

Tournament: Compliance Solutions Championship

Dates:1-4 October

Course: The Patriot Golf Club, Owasso, OK

Purse: USD $1.5M

Ozzies in the field: NIL

Sandy Scott

Scott Sandy Scott makes it back to back wins and leaps to 1st on the OOM with only one tournament left. The winner of the OOM gets entry to the 2027 Players and US Open.

This week Scott needed four play-off holes to secure the victory over American William Sides.

1st Sandy Scott – USD $270,000

PGA Champions Tour

Tournament: Jefferson Lehigh Valley Classic

Dates: 2-4 October

Course: Lehigh County Club, Allentown, PA

Purse: USD $2.3M

Ozzies in the field: Steve Allan, Steve Alker (NZ), Stuart Appleby, David Bansdon (1st alternate), Greg Chalmers, Richard Green, Scott Hend, Mark Hensby, Rod Pampling, Cameron Percy, John Senden, Michael Wright

Steve Alker

If it’s not an Ozzie then at least it is a Kiwi with the win. Steve Alker notched up his fourth win of this season and his 14th overall. He now has three wins from his last four starts. The remarkable Kiwi birdied 16 & 17 to win by one shot from Tag Ridings. Alker remains in third place in the OOM behind the other multiple winners Stewart Cink (5 wins)

& Zach Johnson (6 wins).

Best of the Ozzies was Richard Green in a tie for fourth.

1st Steve Alker – USD $345,000

T4 Richard Green - $

T8 Stuart Appleby Mark Hensby - $

T26 Michael Wright - $

T47 Greg Chalmers, Steve Allen - $

T58 Cam Percy - $

T63 Rod Pampling, John Senden - $

Hotel Planner Tour

Tournament: Abu Dhabi Challenge

Dates: 30 Sept – 3 October

Course: Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting & Golf Club, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Purse: €350,000

Ozzies in the field: Haydn Barron, Sam Jones (NZ)

Liam Nolan

Liam Nolan won by four shots from Finland’s Tapio Pulkanen. Best of the Ozzies was Haydn Barron who finished in a tie for tenth. That result was not enough to get Barron into the top 70 on the OOM which is what was needed to play the Final Swing Tournaments in Asia. Barron’s season is over and he will be teeing it up in the Australasian PGA Tour events that starting with the WA Open in two weeks. Barron finished the season in 80th on the OOM after playing 14 events and making eight cuts with four top ten finishes.

Coby Carruthers started this tournament with a blistering 62 but couldn’t sustain that form. Gold is a strange game and in the second round Carruthers was 12 shots worse with a 74 and ultimately finished T33. Carruthers in back in action at the WA OGA next week.

1st Liam Nolan - €49,790

T10 Haydn Barron - €6,146

T33 Coby Carruthers = €2,271

MC Sam Jones (NZ)

Asian Development Tour

Tournament: Egypt Golf Series 14

Dates: 28 Sept – 1 October

Course: Madinaty Golf Club

Purse: USD $125,000

Ozzies in the field: Darcy Brereton, Deyen Lawson, Todd Sinnott

Ben Jones

A final round 60 saw Englishman Ben Jones record his second ADT victory with a win by five shots over Minhyeok Yang. Best of the Ozzies was Darcy Brereton in a tie for 12th.

1st Ben Jones – USD $21,875

T12 Darcy Brereton - $1,857

T17 Deyen Lawson - $1,420

T33 Todd Sinnott - $1,000

Legends Tour

Tournament: Reignwood Legends Championship

Dates: 2-4 October

Course: Reignwood Pine Valley

Purse:€?

Ozzies in the field: Michael Campbell (NZ), Michael Long (NZ), Mark Brown (NZ)

Jean Hugo

A win for South African Jean Hugo by three shots from Matthew Cort. Best of the Kiwi’s was Michael Brown in a tie for eighth.

1st Jean Hugo

T8 Mark Brown ((NZ)

T23 Michael Long (NZ)

T25 Michael Campbell (NZ)

Japan Tour

Tournament: Drugstore Cosmos Cup

Dates: 2-4 October

Course: Grand Fields Country Club

Purse: Y150,000,000

Ozzies in the field: Michael Hendry (NZ)

Hiroshi Iwati

1st Hiroshi Iwata – Y30,000,000

T16 Michael Hendry (NZ) – Y2,212,500

All images courtesy of the respective Tours.